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In the 26th century, the invention of temporal imaging allows The Intergalactic Temporal Agency (IGTA) to remotely observe the past and the future, and in the 27th century, IGTA begins researching "temporal displacement" (time travel). Administrator Buchanan holds a meeting with Cadet Spaceman to assign him a dangerous mission, as Spaceman's low intelligence makes him expendable.

Buchanan explains that temporal imaging has shown that in the 33rd century, a war breaks out between two star systems following the accidental destruction of a star cruiser, which is assumed to be an attack from the rival star system. He has observed that the destruction was actually the result of a small asteroid colliding with the ship, shaking a canister off a shelf which hit the brake on a cleaning cart and sent it careening into the warp core, leading to an explosion. He wants Spaceman to be the first human to travel through time so he can move the canister to prevent the war from happening, with the condition that they have no way to bring him back to the 27th century.[2]

The next day, Spaceman gets prepared for the mission. Buchanan tells him that he must only move the canister within one minute before the asteroid's collision, and that temporal imaging isn't yet advanced enough to place him in at the exact right time. Instead, a receiver on his suit will be sent a signal during the required time window. Spaceman gets into the temporal imaging machine and is sent through time.

Upon entry to the 33rd century, Spaceman loses his balance and hits against the cleaning cart, breaking the receiver on his suit. He spots the canister and, assuming it must be close enough to the right time, moves it across. Buchanan, viewing the future through temporal imaging, exclaims that it's too early. Spaceman leaves the room and a crewman enters, eating a bag of pretzels. The crewman is thirsty and picks up the can to see if there is coke in it, putting it back down over in its original place. The asteroid hits the ship, still knocking the can onto the brake of the cleaning cart, sending it into the warp core and causing the explosion.

Buchanan turns off the temporal imaging and gets a list of test results from a shelf. He crosses off Cadet Spaceman, and sends for the second-lowest scoring cadet on the list.